Open access: free access to all publications by 2020?

Since 2008, the SNSF has been asking researchers to make their SNSF-funded research results available to the public free of charge. In 2006, it signed the Berlin Declaration that demands free global access to publicly funded research results as well as their usage in accordance with copyright law.

The SNSF is currently pursuing a progressive OA policy comparable with that of other leading funding agencies in Europe and the US (see box). However, at the Berlin Conference on Open Access held in December 2015, it became obvious that Switzerland had lost some of its momentum in the drive for open access to publications. The current frontrunners are the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Austria. They have recently introduced offset agreements with publishers that take into account the current subscription fees so that more journals can offer open access to research articles. However, there is a danger that such agreements could lead to separate OA practices in some countries.

In its EU presidency year, the Netherlands has launched a fully fledged OA campaign. For instance, the NWO in the Netherlands has become the first research funding agency to offer immediate and full access to publicly funded research results of NWO-approved projects. The Netherlands is aiming for almost 100% open access to scientific publications within the EU research area by 2020. But this will depend on how fast European countries are able to transform the publication system on the basis of synchronised national OA strategies. Given the increasing concentration of power in large publishing houses and their interest in maximising profits, this will not be an easy task. In any case, universities libraries and researchers will continue to feel the brunt of rising publication costs. The Max Planck Digital Library has calculated that the 7.6 billion euros injected into the publication system every year via subscription fee payments would be sufficient to complete the changeover to OA.

At a meeting in November 2015, the SERI, swissuniversities and the SNSF identified the need for specific measures aimed at achieving OA. They agreed to pursue the following lines of action:

• Negotiations with publishing houses at national level
• Market transparency (disclosure of finances and payments)
• Enshrining the right to republish in the soon to be revised copyright law
• Monitoring of OA publications and of their financing
• Informing and raising awareness about OA among researchers

The SERI subsequently asked swissuniversities and the SNSF to develop a national OA strategy. In addition, the SNSF commissioned a financial flow analysis together with SUK P-2 (a swissuniversities programme). The analysis will serve as a basis for estimating the overall funding requirement and formulating proposals for changing the Swiss system. The SNSF will continue to follow international developments with regard to OA and make the necessary adjustments – true to the slogan of the League of European Research Universities statement it signed: “Christmas is over. Research funding should go to research, not to publishers!”